When Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004, there was no way he could have known that his little website was going to become the world’s most popular social network with nearly 2 billion registered users. He also could not have known that his social networking site would be instrumental in one of the most heinous crimes committed in the past century.
The world was left shocked and dumbfounded earlier this year, when a self-described white supremacist, armed with an automatic machine gun, walked into two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and opened fire on the crowd, killing 50 people and wounding dozens of others.
Among those killed was three-year-old Mucad Ibrahim.
The incident sent shock waves throughout the world. New Zealand is a country that, unlike the US, is not generally known for mass shootings and violent crimes.
What made the crime exponentially more horrific was that the perpetrator live streamed it on Facebook for the world to see in graphic, high-definition video. It is difficult to get a grasp on the depravity of this act.
Listen to Bilal Kathrada discussing hate on social media, and why social networks have a responsibility to ensure their platforms are never used for evil, by putting all the necessary checks and balances into place before allowing people to post content, especially live video.
